dianaschnuth

One of the major milestones in Weight Watchers is losing 10% of your original starting weight. I reached that milestone on March 17, 2009.

I hung around my 10% mark for a few weeks, then went back up a few pounds. And a few more, and a few more, until I’d finally regained half of what I’d lost. That was this past January. At that weigh-in, I set out to get back to my 10% milestone again, then to keep going.

I did see that 10% mark again this past April, right before I went on vacation. It was a quick drop of four pounds in one week, maintained for one more, after which I promptly gained back all four (and only four) during vacation. Since then, I’ve been slowly — ever so slowly — on the decline again.

This week, I’m going to push to my 10% milestone once more. I have barely more than two pounds to lose, and I can safely do that in one week. This is the week when I eat even more fruits and vegetables, drink even more water, and exercise. This is the week when I limit myself to one “treat” (usually a diet ice cream bar) per evening. This is the week when I focus on my goal.

Two pounds? No problem.

I don’t blog much about my weight loss anymore, really. I check in with Twitter and Facebook every week at my weigh-in with my slow and steady progress, but I kind of feel like the weight-loss lifestyle is old hat.

My progress, like I said, has been slow and steady:

There was quite a while there when I’d “lost that lovin’ feelin'” and wasn’t working the program as much as I could — marked on the graph by that slow gain over the majority of 2009.

Topping 200 pounds at my weigh-in on January 5, 2010 made me refocus my efforts. I started tracking more regularly and more accurately, especially on weekends. I worked on increasing my activity (something I’ve had to refocus on lately, since I’ve been working through my normal lunchtime walks). I tried harder to find healthy options when going out to lunch with my co-workers, rather than throwing up my hands and succumbing to a piece or three of veggie pizza.

Last weekend was kind of an eyeopener of sorts for me, though. My Mom came to visit from Texas, and we spent some quality time together in Toledo, and some time in my hometown of Medina, two hours away. And not only did I track every meal (including stupidly large breakfasts and a trip to Olive Garden with friends), but I also stayed within my weekly allotted Points… and I lost almost a pound at this week’s weigh-in!

It is a lifestyle change. It can be done.

I am doing it.

Sure, I have 20 pounds yet to lose before I reach my (tentative) goal weight, but it’s only a matter of time now. I’m not one of these ladies who never hits a plateau, and loses all of her excess weight in a single 17-week session. It’s a little more challenging for me, a little more time-consuming. But still possible.

The good news: I’ve started the Couch-to-5K running program!
The bad news: I gained 1.6 pounds this week.

I’ve deposited the requisite amount of money into my Oops-I-Gained-Weight-This-Week savings account, to be withdrawn only when I reach Goal. And that’s all I’m going to think about this week’s gain, except for the acknowledgment (or possibly just the hope) that it was due to starting a new exercise program.

Truth be told, while I was staunchly strict during my first 20-Point week, I was a bit lax last week: I only stayed at or below 20 for two days. Most days, I ate around 25 Points, and I went absolutely batshit overboard on Monday night (yes, the night before my weigh-in). Linda told me to increase my Points just a little this week, but I’m inclined to try to do another true 20-Point week, just to see if it makes a difference.

Tomorrow is a retirement send-off lunch for one of my IT co-workers… at Spaghetti Warehouse. The good news is that they have detailed nutritional information online, so I can decide on a few options before I head out. There are actually a few reasonable lunch options above and beyond spaghetti with marinara sauce, thankfully.

My plan for the week is to eat slightly larger lunches, focus on fruits and veggies (but be sure to eat my protein — my muscles will need it), and to continue with the C25K program. One month until my beach vacation, and I’m going to look good in the pictures this time!

As you may recall, my Weight Watchers leader suggested at last week’s weigh-in that I cut down from eating 25 Points a day (plus my 35 weekly allowance) to 20 Points a day, period. Since I regularly spread out my weekly Flex Points over the course of the week, that essentially cut down my intake by one third, from 30 Points to 20.

It wasn’t easy, but I did it. I rediscovered tasty salad options and reasonable portions of lean protein. I was reminded that eating complex carbs for dinner tends to stall my weight loss. (That’s one benefit of daily weighing.) And I realized that, yes, I do have willpower to draw upon. It all depends on my mindset.

See, Weight Watchers has me trained well. This is a lifestyle change; this is how I eat now. “Diets” don’t work.

Except when they do.

If I have the mindset of “I’m going to be eating this way for the rest of my life,” then I will naturally take all of the built-in flexibility that the program offers. I’ll use my weekly allowance to let me eat things that would be verboten on a normal diet, or to expand my portion sizes, or to otherwise play with the rules. Because, damn, if I have to eat this way forever, I’m going to find ways to make it tolerable.

This is why I’ve been plateauing for the past year-plus: I’ve been training myself on how to be in the Maintenance phase, apparently. I’ve got that downpat.

When I discover the tipping point, when I realize that I have to be more strict for now in order to lose weight, I’m on a diet again. And, for me, that’s a good thing.

I woke up on weigh-in day five pounds lighter than I had been a week before. Of course, by the time noon rolled around, the official Weight Watchers weigh-in claimed I’d only lost 2.6 pounds.

Only. Hah. That’s more weight than I’ve lost in one week since… let’s see… *checking WW eTools* …September of last year? And I’ve been in a holding pattern for much longer than that: since September 2008.

You’d think I would have thought to change it up long before now.

At any rate, I’m moving in the right direction again. I’m learning how my body processes food and how much it needs, and I’m getting more active with the nicer weather and longer evenings. I feel so much better, both physically and mentally, when I bring my A game to this whole health and fitness venture.

I’m on the 20-Point regimen again this week — I’m off to a rocky start, having gone over by a few points yesterday and today, but I’m stepping it up tomorrow and through the weekend.

Looking forward to seeing what I look like at my lowest weight ever. Just need to lose another five pounds… then keep going!

<mantra> I am a strong and confident woman! </mantra>

My weight loss has been slow but steady of late: between ½ and one pound per week. Last week, though, my progress slowed; I only lost 0.4 pounds, and this week I gained that 0.4 pounds back.

Granted, since my weigh-in is at noon, right before lunch, that fraction of a pound could have been one well-timed bowel movement last week, or a mistimed glass of water this week. Even so, I agreed that I would put money into an account for every week I gain at Weight Watchers this year, so I did that this evening. I set up a new savings account at ING Direct, and called it “Goal 170” — when I hit my weight goal of 170 pounds, I’ll take that money and buy some new clothes for myself. (I wonder what size they’ll be?)

My Weight Watchers leader, Linda, took a good hard look at my numbers after she wrote down my weight this morning. She paused, squinted, and asked me, “Can you do 20 Points this week?”

For those of you not familiar with the Weight Watchers plan: I currently get 25 Points per day, plus 35 per week to use whenever I want. A Royal Red Robin Burger is something like 30 Points by itself, while I can have one of those Weight Watchers meals at Applebee’s for around 9 (for an entree plus soup).

I’ve been spreading my Weekly Allowance Points across the entire week, eating about 30 Points a day. Cutting down to 20 a day is going to be a challenge. But, like I assured Linda, I don’t have anything special going on this week that I need to save them for. So, here we go.

This, my friends, is a diet. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

Turns out that Linda used this tactic on another member today, who just happened to sit next to me at the meeting. She’s been stuck within the same five-pound range since October. Even though my plateau has been considerably longer than that, it does make me feel validated (vindicated?) to know that I’m not the only one a.) having plateau issues and b.) having to cut way back this week.

The other two people who sat down by me today are Lifetime members (meaning they’ve hit their goal weight and stayed near it for a goodly amount of time). Between my fellow plateauer and the Lifetime folks, I really felt like I was experiencing a sea change in my diet attitude, just by association.

Dinner tonight was an iceberg and spinach salad with strawberries, onion, black beans, and fat-free poppyseed dressing (1.5 pts); a 4.3-ounce baked chicken breast with 1 tablespoon of nonfat vanilla yogurt, plus thyme and rosemary (4 pts); and carrots with ginger and garlic (2 pts). Those seven-and-a-half Points were about the most filling Points I’d eaten in some time. Plus, I actually sat at the dining room table to eat my meal, rather than watching the news or playing a game or even browsing on my iPhone. I focused on my food, enjoyed it, ate slowly, and was comfortably sated by the time I was done. Dessert, a couple hours later, was a small glass of fat-free milk with zero-calorie chocolate sauce (Walden Farms; surprisingly delicious).

If I continue to plan ahead, treat myself to food that’s tasty AND healthy, and not give in, I can turn this thing around. Tomorrow is our team lunch at work; I can easily be good enough for lunch that a large salad and a chicken breast will be sufficient for dinner.

No worries. I’m looking forward to this.